Video: Is the post-EPA regs power grid ready for a truly hard winter?

posted at 11:01 am on August 17, 2014 by Jazz Shaw

During the dog days of summer (which haven’t been all that doggy in the Northeast this year) it’s not very popular to sit and speculate about the winter months ahead, but the people responsible for keeping the lights – and the heat – turned on have to do it. One of these folks is Joe Bastardi of WeatherBELL Analytics, and he’s looking ahead with some trepidation. Joe is reading the meteorological tea leaves and sees the potential for another round of heavy snowfall and crippling cold temperatures coming our way. And he also notes that our net energy production, in the wake of new EPA carbon regulations, is actually declining from the previous curve at a time when bad weather puts full load demand on the system. During an interview with Wall Street Journal Live, he voices some of these concerns. (Check out the video. An excerpt follows.)

Joe Bastardi: … It’s flowing along right now into the type of El Nino situation that is notorious for giving the United States cold, snowy winters, especially in the eastern part of the United States, relative to the averages. That would be significant because we were within one power plant last year of having the grid overload …

Question: This is sounding horrific. I know that in the first quarter, the weather was said to be to blame for the slow economic growth. Are we going to stop working, basically is what you’re saying?

Joe Bastardi: This year, if you get the kind of winter that we had in 2009-2010 or 2002-2003 with the nation’s grid on the ropes the way it is and some of these regulations that I hear about coming down that are supposed to close plants on January 1st – and what I know, because we’re involved in getting people ready to fight snow in cities around the country – this could be a very, very big economic impact on the winter. And we’re very concerned about that.

Do you recall those “polar vortex” weeks which were all the rage back in January and February? They may be coming back, and last time it happened the strain hit one of the nation’s major power distribution networks to the point where it almost gave up the ghost.

Last winter, bitterly cold weather placed massive stress on the US electrical system ― and the system almost broke. On January 7 in the midst of the polar vortex, PJM Interconnection, the Regional Transmission Organization serving the heart of America from New Jersey to Illinois, experienced a new all-time peak winter load of almost 142,000 megawatts.

Eight of the top ten of PJM’s all-time winter peaks occurred in January 2014. Heroic efforts by grid operators saved large parts of the nation’s heartland from blackouts during record-cold temperature days. Nicholas Akins, CEO of American Electric Power, stated in Congressional testimony, “This country did not just dodge a bullet ― we dodged a cannon ball.”

In order to comply with the new Obama era EPA regs, American Electric Power, which supplies a major portion of the electricity used on the east coast, will be closing almost one quarter of their coal fired plants between now and next June. This is because they were economically unable to come into compliance with the new regulations in the impossibly short window of opportunity offered by the EPA. This is going to reduce the total surge capacity available for some of our most densely populated areas just when we may get hit with weather related demand spikes beyond anyone’s control.

Having the power go out in the summer when you’re trying to run the air conditioning is bad enough. Losing heating when the temperatures head below zero for weeks on end is a recipe for disaster.

This is going to reduce the total surge capacity available for some of our most densely populated areas just when we may get hit with weather related demand spikes beyond anyone’s control.

Can’t wait to hear the wailing from libtards when DC, NYC, Boston and Philly are subjected to rolling blackouts.
Somehow, it will be the fault of the evil power companies who refused to spend the money to upgrade coal plants.

Starving, freezing peasants are easier to control. (Better still if those peasants are not armed.)

Cut people’s power off, and they will run begging to the government for aid and succor. Have no doubt, the power companies will be blamed and held solely responsible for any massive blackouts in a bad winter.

Cascading blackout coming to a city near you. D.C. residents hardest hit. If you’re gonna be stupid you’d better be tough.

Oldnuke on August 17, 2014 at 11:07 AM

Actually people (especially in the Northeast) have no clue what they in for. The kinds of decisions that the EPA is forcing on Utilities are not easily reversed, nor will they be quickly offset by other methodologies. The reliance they are forcing on a single source fuel supply is criminally stupid.

If we have a black out this winter, I hope and pray Republicans will tell people the truth and blame Barack’s horrible EPA regulation. Republicans in congress will probably will not blame Barack but will side with the democrats and blame the power companies.

Actually people (especially in the Northeast) have no clue what they in for. The kinds of decisions that the EPA is forcing on Utilities are not easily reversed, nor will they be quickly offset by other methodologies. The reliance they are forcing on a single source fuel supply is criminally stupid.

whbates on August 17, 2014 at 11:23 AM

And to be fair a lot of what will be happening to the northeast is because the have voted for it on a national as well as state level (not just the idiots at the EPA). You get what you vote for I guess.

Actually people (especially in the Northeast) have no clue what they in for. The kinds of decisions that the EPA is forcing on Utilities are not easily reversed, nor will they be quickly offset by other methodologies. The reliance they are forcing on a single source fuel supply is criminally stupid.

whbates on August 17, 2014 at 11:23 AM

Very few people really understand just how dependent we are on electricity. If they did they’d be burning down the EPA and putting all it’s employees into the stocks on the Capitol lawn as a warning. It goes beyond criminally stupid it’s mandated suicide.

Very few people really understand just how dependent we are on electricity. If they did they’d be burning down the EPA and putting all it’s employees into the stocks on the Capitol lawn as a warning. It goes beyond criminally stupid it’s mandated suicide.

Oldnuke on August 17, 2014 at 11:34 AM

There is a Metric Butt Ton of valuable scrap metals in older coal fired power plants. When we lived in Montville, CT they shut that coal plant down and the guts of the power generation core were gone in less than four months. There is no way to just “turn it on” again quickly.

They do not last long when they are decommissioned, the parent company gets as much money as fast as they can out of shuttered power plants.

In order to comply with the new Obama era EPA regs, American Electric Power, which supplies a major portion of the electricity used on the east coast, will be closing almost one quarter of their coal fired plants between now and next June. This is because they were economically unable to come into compliance with the new regulations in the impossibly short window of opportunity offered by the EPA.

I expect the electric companies can read the weather leaves too, and have mothballed rather than shut down permanently these plants. You know that when old black ladies in Chicago and Detroit start freezing to death, Mr. Obama will relent — and he will relent quickly.

Then how quickly these plants can be put into operation which will determine whether Mr. Obama can deflect blame for a situation he caused onto the plant owners.

“These billionaires could have retrofitted their plants to be compliant with the new rules. Instead, they put millions of lives at risk with their desire spend more time on the golf course — er, on vacation — er, in their mansions — er, doing what rich people do. And I’m not rich.”

Winter electrical blackouts (and the potential of several thousand corpses) will give (LIV) people a little taste of what the aftermath of a massive coronal event or an EMP attack would be like. Maybe, just maybe that will get some butts in gear toward hardening the grid infrastructure for that eventual disaster. Probably not but you just never know.

For those of you interested. When I was the operations shift manager of a two unit nuke plant, about 20 years ago, when the summers or winters got really intense and load got high we went into a special condition. The vulgar term we used internally was “Do not f&%K with the units light is on”. What that meant was that I did not allow any activity that could inadvertently jeopardize unit operation. No maintenance operations except shop jobs. No operations activities that were not mandated by regs (tech specs to those familiar with the industry). Even defer all required tests to their drop dead dates. Nobody in the plant area except required operations personnel. This condition was initiated by very senior company management personnel when our load reserves dropped to a certain level. 10% reserves comes to mind but that may be wrong, it was a long time ago. One thing we all understood was that when it was mandated losing one unit might cause a major outage because we just didn’t have enough power available to make it up. Not from internal reserves or outside sources. The other interconnected utilities would be maxed out too. It was an easy time to operate. Didn’t have to really do anything but maintain, but absolutely the most tense operating experience possible. One screw up, one mechanical or electrical glitch or failure and it was possible that our entire system would go dark. Like I said that was twenty years ago. In the interim demand has grown but available power hasn’t grown proportionally. We, as a nation, have less reserve now than we did twenty years ago. Thanks in large part to these regs. Good night America. Hope this makes you nervous cause you ought to be.

EMP…a Carrington event….Terrorism…lots could kill the power grid and cause tens of millions to quickly die yet our fine government does about zip. I agree with the hope that DC become ground zero for any such a disaster…

Can’t wait to hear the wailing from libtards when DC, NYC, Boston and Philly are subjected to rolling blackouts.
Somehow, it will be the fault of the evil power companies who refused to spend the money to upgrade coal plants.

BacaDog on August 17, 2014 at 11:13 AM

DC won’t be. The consequences of one’s stupid political acts always come home to roost on someone else’s head.

Good! I hope there is lots of pain, misery and death to the northeasters that live and breath the fascist-democrat party line. I won’t give a flying crap about them. Until there is pain there will be no hope of change.

The one inherent virtue of progressive-fascist rule is the equal sharing of misery….except for the elite of the party.

I expect the electric companies can read the weather leaves too, and have mothballed rather than shut down permanently these plants. You know that when old black ladies in Chicago and Detroit start freezing to death, Mr. Obama will relent — and he will relent quickly.

Then how quickly these plants can be put into operation which will determine whether Mr. Obama can deflect blame for a situation he caused onto the plant owners.

“These billionaires could have retrofitted their plants to be compliant with the new rules. Instead, they put millions of lives at risk with their desire spend more time on the golf course — er, on vacation — er, in their mansions — er, doing what rich people do. And I’m not rich.”

unclesmrgol on August 17, 2014 at 11:45 AM

Not likely, the old assets like these must be disposed of because of other EPA & FERC regulations as well as state mandates. The Utility risk the situation similar to what has happen to Duke Energy and TVA with abandon coal ash ponds, someone has to take care of these issues and it is a cost that they may not be able to recover.

Don’t fool your self into believing that the Utilities can, or will for that matter, make magic happen. Also, non active assets take maintenance and that cost is not recoverable from the rate payers.

“Despite our best-ever year in generation, some of our nuclear units are unprofitable at this point in the current environment, due to the low prices and the bad energy policy that we’re living with,” said Chief Executive Chris Crane. “A better tax policy and energy policy would be the clear answer, but if we do not see a path to sustainable profits, we will be obligated to shut units down to avoid the long-term losses.”

All of the dire predictions from the priests of progressive rule were proved wrong. Now leftists have control and will make them happen by big government diktat. They will be proved correct even if they engineer it to happen.

Progressive-fascist-democrats don’t like people in general. Their ideology killed over a 100 million people in the 20th century. Now they have much more of the globe under their control. I’m betting they eliminate over a billion people with the policies of Obama and the hard left.

Very few people really understand just how dependent we are on electricity.
Oldnuke on August 17, 2014 at 11:34 AM

And those who know are nervous. Even those in Texas which has its own electrical grid.

cozmo on August 17, 2014 at 12:00 PM

I have thought for years that the next insurrection will start when the lights go out and can’t come on due to some bureaucratic stupidity. It’s a LOOONG fall off the ladder of technology if you suddenly lose power.

“These billionaires could have retrofitted their plants to be compliant with the new rules. Instead, they put millions of lives at risk with their desire spend more time on the golf course — er, on vacation — er, in their mansions — er, doing what rich people do. And I’m not rich.”

unclesmrgol on August 17, 2014 at 11:45 AM

You cannot upgrade these coal plants to meet the CO2 emission regs. The amount of CO2 generated by the coal exceeds the limits and the technology to capture the CO2 does not yet really exist.

In addition to shutting down the coal plants, we have governors like Andy Cuomo who wants to shut down 2 megawatts of nuclear power at Indian Point with no idea where the replacement power will come from. At the same time some people say we can use natural gas for power Governor Cuomo will not allow fracking to obtain natural gas. The progressive left knows what it opposes but has no idea of how to replace it. They just chant “Green Power” like a magic incantation but that will not work.

Over time, alternative plants and alternative sources of energy could be developed; but not in the time frame the ideologues at EPA insist upon. Nuclear is still taboo on the left. They despise all fossil fuels even natural gas and even oppose dams that allow production of hydro-power. We need a new administration committed to solving our problems rather than committed to a progressive left agenda for permanent total power by the self-appointed left wing elite.

The US could become a manufacturing nation again based on our cheap energy but the left will not allow it. They want the people to be dependent on government hand outs rather than able to generate their own income that would allow them their freedom.

The progressive left knows what it opposes but has no idea of how to replace it. They just chant “Green Power” like a magic incantation but that will not work.

KW64 on August 17, 2014 at 12:21 PM

Even if they had a plan, which they don’t, their “Green Power” is good for little more than a tertiary power source AT THE BEST. Solar in particular has not and will never work worth a darn under atmospheric conditions. You either need a giant farm of panels in a desert or an array of panels pointing toward a tower that has a nasty tenancy to parboil birds flying through.

Uh,, uh…….hello McFly???
The Global Warming acceptors have told yous repeatedly that colder winters are also the result of Global warming so burning more fossil fuels will only make the winters – colder !! It’s a cycle ! Duh!
.
Just lay back, and enjoy the global climate death spiral…….

You guys need to realize that it’s not the Yankees that are going to go without power – when push comes to shove it will be the states with political clout in DC that get the electricity.

kcewa on August 17, 2014 at 12:28 PM

While that may be true from a political standpoint I am not sure that it will happen from an operational point of view. I would be interested in hearing from a power grid expert as to what happens when you have limited power and extremely high demand from certain areas. My guess is that you don’t try and keep the high demand areas going at the expense of system integrity. But that’s just a guess.

The solution will be a simple one. All power available will be routed to blue states. Flyover states will just have to figure out how to live without power

BobMbx on August 17, 2014 at 12:31 PM

You’d be amazed at how easy it would be to cut the lines to blue states so that it would take months to repair, with little more than a fairly small amount of…re-purposed…industrial explosives or ANFO. I’ve studied this more than a little because I’ve seen this crisis coming.

You’d be amazed at how easy it would be to cut the lines to blue states so that it would take months to repair, with little more than a fairly small amount of…re-purposed…industrial explosives or ANFO. I’ve studied this more than a little because I’ve seen this crisis coming.

LawfulGood on August 17, 2014 at 12:34 PM

Yep, take away their power and give those fly over staters nothing to do but think about power grid infrastructure and funny things just might happen.

Let’s assume that the plants have been mothballed and not scrapped for salvage. When they’re mothballed the staff at those plants will be reduced to just a very few people. a couple of auxillary operators to keep sumps pumped and a couple of laborers to move the pumps around. Maybe a mechanic and an electrician working day shift to keep up a minimum of maintenance. The rest of the staff will have been laid off or redistributed to other plants to make up attrition losses. How long do you think it would take to round up enough people to restart these plants? A minimum crew for normal operation and maintenance is quite a few trained people and you’d need at least three crews. At three they’d be worked to death and at the point of exhaustion in about a month. No days off, lots of overtime too. Another thing to consider. A lot of the equipment in these plants can be used as spares for other plants. Most likely high dollar items like feed pump motors or even the pumps themselves have been removed and taken to other plants for repairs. Other items like motor operated valves and motors and most of the instrumentation will have been removed, reconditioned and placed into the supply systems of the company. Starting up a mothballed plant isn’t usually all that simple. Now granted some of these plants may have been placed in a reserve status instead of actually being mothballed. In that case the restart would be more easy. I am pretty sure though that most have/will be mothballed. Less expensive for the company and I’m pretty sure they have no intention of ever bringing them back.

Only partially true. Remember the heat wave that the Euroweenies were entirely unable to cope with? Cut down old folks left right and center.

Hell, my own fiance would be in a very nasty spot without modern cooling systems because due to a medical condition her metabolism is through the roof. She walks three blocks and she feels like a furnace, and if she overheats too long without relief…let’s just say Very Bad Things Happen.

The power companies should issue a public letter, in major newspapers, to the EPA asking them to sign a document acknowledging that these changes will be permanent, and will likely result in the death of old Americans during the winter when the power available will exceed the load.

Then, issue a second letter indicating that the EPA has ignored them.
Have attorneys submit this letter to them in a legal fashion that later you can prove in a court of law they received but refused to sign her knowledge.

Then, when old Americans freeze to death in their homes, the power companies will still be blamed by the media and the government and everyone else will just continue playing with their online gaming.

Yup, that is the progressive game plan: shut down energy plants, blame the inevitable and intended crisis entirely on the utility companies, and use the freezing people as an excuse to concentrate more political power in Washington DC.

If anyone dares suggest the government is in fact the source of the energy shortage, they will be asked why they hate minorities, children, and the elderly, and wish to see them freeze to death.

It isn’t just the production system that is overtaxed, it is the primary and secondary distribution system for the electricity. NoVA has a brittle power infrastructure and a single accident on the wrong road at the wrong place can leave a large section of suburbia without power for hours, days or longer. One bad storm and the power is out for weeks.

The capitol has its own power plant, yes, but that does no good for those who will not be getting cell messages and, with the wonder of fiber optic cable to the door, will not be getting telephone, internet or anything but radio reception. You can go from an intricate, highly civilized region to one with dwindling food supplies in a few days. Knock out the water and you begin to look at the 72 hours to barbarism deal.

EPA wants to kill off modern civilization?

You stock up on food, guns, ammo, water and sanitation equipment. Some power generation is very nice, too, for refrigeration. You don’t need to go whole hog, but enough to keep food and medicine refrigerated for a few weeks is very handy… of course in the winter you can use the outdoors for that and get a room nice and warm, instead.

Trapeze, thanks for the reply. I heat with wood 6 months out of the year. I live on a big source of fresh water and can purify it. I hunt & fish. I will be specific – how do I protect my 5 kW generator and chest freezer? thx in advance.

Trapeze, thanks for the reply. I heat with wood 6 months out of the year. I live on a big source of fresh water and can purify it. I hunt & fish. I will be specific – how do I protect my 5 kW generator and chest freezer? thx in advance.
8 weight on August 17, 2014 at 1:11 PM

Anything electronic, look up “Faraday cage” to protect against MCE or EMP.

Trapeze, thanks for the reply. I heat with wood 6 months out of the year. I live on a big source of fresh water and can purify it. I hunt & fish. I will be specific – how do I protect my 5 kW generator and chest freezer? thx in advance.
8 weight on August 17, 2014 at 1:11 PM

Depends on their level of sophistication. If they are old relay controlled without computers then you don’t need to worry about EMP, but if that’s not the case there are some cheap if not simply things you can do. I would imagine a shed made of tin could be used as a Faraday cage. Not expensive to do, but it’s a lot of work and it’s ugly.

Losing heating when the temperatures head below zero for weeks on end is a recipe for disaster.

That is a silly statement considering the targeted area. I lived in Chicago, Detroit, Ithaca, and Buffalo for about ten winters, all before 1952 and experienced no more than a dozen days in which the temperature stayed below zero for one or two days.
It was coder in the thirties and forties than it is now.

Good! I hope there is lots of pain, misery and death to the northeasters that live and breath the fascist-democrat party line. I won’t give a flying crap about them. Until there is pain there will be no hope of change.

I concur.

I live about ten miles west of DC. We would not have near the hardship of NY or Boston.

“In a recent paper “The Centennial Gleissberg Cycle and its Association with Extended Minima”, to be soon published in JGR/Space, Feynman and Ruzmaikin discuss how the recent extended minimum of solar and geomagnetic variability (XSM) mirrors the XSMs in the 19th and 20th centuries: 1810–1830 and 1900–1910. The approx. 87 year Gleissberg cycle, named after Wolfgang Gleißberg, is thought to be an amplitude modulation of the 11-year Schwabe Cycle

* Solar physicist Habibullo Abdussamatov predicts the current lull in solar activity will continue until about the middle of the 21st century and lead to a new Little Ice Age within the next 30 years.”

Even mass murdering slave labor camp communists believed in industry. Then red became green and they gave up industry. The trees and whales became the proletariat. We are the exploiters who must be eliminated.

How many people realize that that thinking exists inside a massive 300 billion dollar bureaucracy today, a bureaucracy that makes its laws for the rest of us?

I was reading on the Real Science Blog, about same thing. However, there time line is 5 years. The change will happen quickly. Arctic Ice is already 30% higher from the bottom 2 years ago and it’s thicker too.

Watch the topic species in Florida like the large snake other other invaders, in the 2016-2017 winter there should be a large die off.

Having no air conditioning in the summer in New York may be an inconvenience.

Having no air conditioning in the summer in the South is a catastrophe.

There Goes the Neighborhood on August 17, 2014 at 2:10 PM

True dat.

We no longer build or live in houses that can take advantage of natural cooling methods as in the classic Deep South architecture; like deep porches, houses set high off the ground, high ceilings, tall narrow windows that open at the top, thick walls, orientation to prevailing winds, summer kitchens…

Here in south Texas, just a few weeks ago our lovely new home became a literal sweatbox very quickly when the compressor on the central air went out and the heat index was 110. It would be pretty much unliveable without A/C.

Around here, poor people who can’t afford air conditioning or who make do with a window unit or 2 put plywood over their window year round, or at the very least use tinfoil to reflect the heat away.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee are launching an investigation into the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) coal power plants regulations.

Lawmakers are looking to see how the EPA was able to mandate that new coal plants install carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. Lawmakers argue that the mandate violates federal law and the technology is not commercially viable, according to the Daily Caller.
…

The Environmental Policy Act of 2005 states that the EPA may not use federally-funded projects to prove a technology is commercially proven. The EPA included federally-funded projects in its regulatory analysis.

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R., W.Va.) sent a letter to President Barack Obama on Thursday blasting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for not visiting coal-reliant West Virginia before unveiling power plant regulations that could eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs nationwide and raise electricity costs by billions annually.

Capito noted in her letter that the EPA held 11 public listening sessions last fall to discuss the proposed regulations but avoided West Virginia, as well as several other states that heavily rely on coal for electricity generation:

The industry letter charges that the proposal would “negatively impact the economy,” exceeds the EPA’s authority, and is not technologically achievable. The letter urges the EPA to “go back to the drawing board on this rule.”

Yet, Bill Snape, senior counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity, told Common Dreams that the proposal “is in fact incredibly modest” and that “phasing out coal” is humanity’s only option.

The company will retire two coal-fired units at Plant Gorgas in Walker County and convert coal units at Plant Greene County and Plant Barry in Mobile County to natural gas by 2016.
We do not make these decisions lightly. Our hands were forced by rules tied to federal environmental regulations. These EPA mandates restrict our ability to provide our 1.4 million customers with energy in the most cost-effective manner.

No single regulation is solely to blame. We acted to meet looming deadlines on mercury emissions and in anticipation of proposed greenhouse gas restrictions, which would cap the release of carbon dioxide. This is in addition to rules on coal combustion byproducts, water discharges, fine particles, ozone and sulfur dioxide. The sheer scope of EPA’s regulatory agenda on coal is unprecedented.

As officers of Alabama Power, we have the responsibility to provide our customers with the reliable energy they need while ensuring we comply with all environmental regulations. We take these obligations very seriously.

We’ve done it all while keeping plants open and our price below the national average. But clearly, a tipping point has been reached.

Congress never intended for energy policy to be set by a single federal agency. This authority rightly resides in the hands of elected officials who understand local economic conditions. As history has shown, federal overreach often results in unintended consequences.

For instance, our ability to tap into a diverse mix of fuels – natural gas, nuclear, coal, hydro and other renewables – helps ensure we are generating electricity at the lowest cost for our customers. Taking away any one fuel source – especially one of the cheapest and most abundant – exposes customers to marketplace volatility.

Every one of the units affected by our announcement was needed last winter to meet cold-weather energy demands. Having them available for peak periods means we don’t have to buy more expensive energy from other regions.

We must also be mindful that nearly one in five of our customers live below the federal poverty line. Many are on fixed incomes. They deserve reliable and affordable energy, too.

More than just customers are affected. Our power facilities, many located in rural areas, are vital to the communities they serve. Having to eliminate 60 positions at our plant in Greene County, in the heart of Alabama’s Black Belt, may not mean much to Washington regulators, but it means a lot to us

Alabama has just begun to climb out of the national recession. Workforce development is picking up steam. We need to create jobs – not cap growth.

Washington may impose restrictions on energy production. But it does not take the phone calls from customers wondering why their bills have risen or why there are more outages during peak periods.

We do. And we listen. That is why Alabama Power is speaking out, for our customers and our state.

(Matt Bowden is vice president of Environmental Affairs at Alabama Power and Jim Heilbron is senior vice president and senior production officer at Alabama Power.)

Repeal the 17th Amendment and keep the Senate responsible to the States.

Having no air conditioning in the summer in New York may be an inconvenience.

Having no air conditioning in the summer in the South is a catastrophe.

There Goes the Neighborhood on August 17, 2014 at 2:10 PM

True dat.

We no longer build or live in houses that can take advantage of natural cooling methods as in the classic Deep South architecture; like deep porches, houses set high off the ground, high ceilings, tall narrow windows that open at the top, thick walls, orientation to prevailing winds, summer kitchens…

Here in south Texas, just a few weeks ago our lovely new home became a literal sweatbox very quickly when the compressor on the central air went out and the heat index was 110. It would be pretty much unliveable without A/C.

Around here, poor people who can’t afford air conditioning or who make do with a window unit or 2 put plywood over their window year round, or at the very least use tinfoil to reflect the heat away.

Dolce Far Niente on August 17, 2014 at 4:47 PM

We actually do have “Summer kitchens”, only they are now called a deck with a grill.

Editor’s Note:
This story was originally published on Feb. 12, 2014. It includes vital information that will be a part of Wednesday’s new episode of TheBlaze TV’s For the Record (8 p.m. ET)

•On April 16, 2013 six men launched an attack on a critical power station in California.
•The attack consisted of hundreds of AK-47 rounds being unleashed on 10 large transformers — and it was first called “vandalism.”
•But the former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission calls it “the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the grid that has ever occurred.”
•It has largely gone unreported, although TheBlaze did cover it last December.
•Dr. Peter Vincent Pry tells TheBlaze, “If it was a terrorist attack, the electric power industry and the media are almost certainly in error to describe it as a ‘failed attack.’”
•Former CIA director James Woolsey adds, “Without electricity we aren’t a civilization, and this is a major societal vulnerability.”

…
Because the military is 99 percent reliant upon the civilian energy grid transformers exactly like the one attacked in California, Franks has introduced legislation supported by Pry, Woolsey and others called the SHIELD Act, which would address current shortcomings in the electric grid.

“Without electricity we aren’t a civilization, and this is a major societal vulnerability,” Woolsey told TheBlaze.

The former CIA director laughed heartily as he described the way a terrorist threat to America is identified: ”So many people lecture me … about how this is not an officially sanctioned threat … as if what matters is whether a government bureaucracy has made a finding or not when somebody steps out next to a transformer farm and blasts away with an AK-47.”

Published: April 16th, 2013(Tuesday) at 10:54 pm ET
By ENENews
Reuters, 9:55p ET: A Silicon Valley power substation was damaged after rifle shots were fired at it early on Tuesday morning, leading the California grid operator to call for electricity conservation. […] Investigators later determined a high-powered rifle had been used […] About a quarter of an hour before the shots, someone cut fiber optic cables belonging to AT&T, located about a half-mile from the power station and due to the close timing and proximity, investigators believe the incidents are linked, he added.

CBS San Francisco, 9:13p ET: Vandalism At San Jose PG&E Substation Called ‘Sabotage’ […] In apparent acts of “sabotage” in the South Bay early Tuesday, someone cut fiber optic cables, knocking out some 911 service, and then fired a rifle at a PG&E substation, Santa Clara County’s sheriff said. The vandal’s objective appears to have been “shutting down the system,” Sheriff Laurie Smith said at a news conference at the substation Tuesday afternoon. “We don’t have a suspect,” she said. “It seems like the same perpetrator or perpetrators to me.” […] The underground cables, protected by manhole covers, were cut shortly before 1:30 a.m. in two locations along Monterey Highway, Smith said. […]

Nobody has been arrested or charged in the attack at PG&E Corp.’s PCG +1.53% Metcalf transmission substation. It is an incident of which few Americans are aware. But one former federal regulator is calling it a terrorist act that, if it were widely replicated across the country, could take down the U.S. electric grid and black out much of the country.

The attack was “the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the grid that has ever occurred” in the U.S., said Jon Wellinghoff, who was chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at the time.
…
The 64-year-old Nevadan, who was appointed to FERC in 2006 by President George W. Bush and stepped down in November, said he gave closed-door, high-level briefings to federal agencies, Congress and the White House last year. As months have passed without arrests, he said, he has grown increasingly concerned that an even larger attack could be in the works. He said he was going public about the incident out of concern that national security is at risk and critical electric-grid sites aren’t adequately protected.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation doesn’t think a terrorist organization caused the Metcalf attack, said a spokesman for the FBI in San Francisco. Investigators are “continuing to sift through the evidence,” he said.

Some people in the utility industry share Mr. Wellinghoff’s concerns, including a former official at PG&E, Metcalf’s owner, who told an industry gathering in November he feared the incident could have been a dress rehearsal for a larger event.

“This wasn’t an incident where Billy-Bob and Joe decided, after a few brewskis, to come in and shoot up a substation,” Mark Johnson, retired vice president of transmission for PG&E, told the utility security conference, according to a video of his presentation. “This was an event that was well thought out, well planned and they targeted certain components.” When reached, Mr. Johnson declined to comment further.

A spokesman for PG&E said the company takes all incidents seriously but declined to discuss the Metcalf event in detail for fear of giving information to potential copycats. “We won’t speculate about the motives” of the attackers, added the spokesman, Brian Swanson. He said PG&E has increased security measures.

Must have been some really exciting things going on at the time, that the NYT and WaPo didn’t have space for this eminently news-worthy event.

NBC News | April 16, 2013

3 killed, over a hundred injured in Boston bombing
NBC News’ Brian Williams reports the day of the Boston Marathon bombing that suddenly turned one of the city’s best day of the year to one of mass casualty that heightened security across the country.

Coincidence in timing? Maybe.No coincidence in political story-quashing.

Each decently conservative state should unlock itself from the grid and just have its own state grid. That way, when the EPA loving states start to freeze, they can’t take our electricity.

Theophile on August 18, 2014 at 1:56 AM

The idea of conservative states seceding in every way except formally is attractive, wonder how that would work, exactly?
The Feds have a lot of slimy tactics that work great with state politicians.
Withholding the very tax dollars extracted from your own state is the #1 method.

The Feds have a lot of slimy tactics that work great with state politicians.
Withholding the very tax dollars extracted from your own state is the #1 method.

Tard on August 18, 2014 at 9:19 AM

Actually, there is a concept floating around… where the state acts on behalf of its citizens as an intermediary to the Federal government. I think it’s called “interpositioning”. With “interpositioning”, the state acts to defend its citizens from a Fed with too much power. With “interpositioning”, the state collects the Federal tax money from its citizens and pays the Fed taxes on their behalf. That way, if Feds got out of hand (even more than now), the state could withhold the money until the issue is resolved. It’s kind of like what the Feds do now with the states, but in reverse.